


Spellcard Tinker

by Cyan_Spiderdragon



Category: Parahumans Series - Wildbow, Touhou Project
Genre: Tinker Taylor Hebert | Skitter | Weaver
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:00:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25983244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cyan_Spiderdragon/pseuds/Cyan_Spiderdragon
Summary: At some distant point in the past, the Entities visited and destroyed Gensokyo. Well, not terribly distant. In fact, that's where they were last, and a new Tinker Shard - [Spellcard] - has been released into the cycle. It finds its host in one Taylor Hebert...
Comments: 10
Kudos: 39





	1. Chapter 1

I glanced nervously over the roof. _I can’t believe I’m doing this. But… kids?_

I couldn’t let that slide, not if I wanted to be a hero. I rifled through my satchel and drew out a ‘crowd control’ card. My Changer-form would grant me blindness-inducement with this one. I gathered it could also cause ‘confusion’, but I didn’t know how helpful that would be. I steeled myself and stepped forward.

_“Night Blindness [Song of the Night Sparrow]”_

The change was instant: I shrank a few inches and produced feathered wings. I leapt into the air, and felt a power welling up within me. The gang members were turning to where I had called out, but started stumbling. I couldn’t see the effects of my own power, but I knew visibility had been reduced to a few feet. This was as I had expected.

The singing wasn’t. On reflection, an effect named ‘Song’ should’ve made that obvious, but as it was, I was quite surprised by the sudden compulsion. Notes spilled from my lips, and I felt a gleeful satisfaction as the gangers stumbled over themselves and attacked each other. They fled in short order, and I made an ironic bow.

A moment later, a lash of fire whipped past me; reflexes not-quite-mine throwing me from its trailing edge. I squawked (literally) and flung out another card.

_“Deadly Toxin [Poisonous Moth’s Dance in the Dark]”_

I could only use one ‘set’ of cards at a time, but each deck was quite versatile. As blades coated in venom slashed their way through the swelling form of Lung, I found myself very grateful for this. I flew up and back, dodging bolts of fire, and hoping the poison would get to him. He was moving a little slower than I’d expect, but was clearly shaking it off. As I watched, more scales burst across his body, and he grew to about twice my (not inconsiderable) height. I spat out a few of my bullets. They glanced off, and I gulped. Those things, slow as they were, could tear through concrete. How tough _was_ this guy?

He leapt to the roof I’d stood on just a minute before, and made another jump toward me. I rolled under him.

_“Bird Sign [Human Cage]!”_

My gamble paid off – he crashed to the ground, imprisoned in chains of my arrowhead-bullets. But they were already dissipating, and Lung looked stronger than ever. Dodging the fire was getting harder, and I was debating the merits of a fallback when the dogs arrived.

Well. I know they’re dogs (bird instincts?). They look more vaguely canine dinosaurs from some fantasy paperback. One lands on Lung with a smashing impact, while two more stop below me. They’re carrying people – some indie heroes, I guess – and I drop gratefully to land at their side.

The heroes – four in total – return my evaluation. Lung seems to have been KO’d (and just in time, too), so I’m in no rush. We stand at an impasse for perhaps ten seconds, then one – a girl in purple – breaks down laughing. The rest of us stare incredulously.

“You – you’re that new tinker, huh?”

I tense up. _How’d she know?_

She must have seen something, because she cut off with a gasp.

“It’s just – well – your testing was about as unsubtle as it gets.”

I wince. How was I to know that ‘a love-coloured laser’ meant a roaring pillar of light bright enough to act as a second sun? I hadn’t returned to the Boat Graveyard since that disaster, a fortnight hence.

“Tattletale, stay focused.” That was tall, dark and hot sitting over th- _what_?

I blinked, shaking my head. That was the downside to my cards – mental pollution. I’d have to return to my base form soon. I didn’t know if the effects could last yet, but they tended to affect my judgment significantly.

The third dog paced over to us, and the other four prepared to leave.

“Need a lift?” asked the girl – Tattletale, I gathered. I shook my head again, mutely.

“Well, you’d best leg it then – or wing it, rather. Someone from the Protectorate shows up, finds two bad guys duking it out, they’re not going to let one walk away.”

They were gone before I realised what she was talking about.

“Damnit!”

My elfin ears twitched as I picked up a rumbling noise approaching. I turned and watched as Armsmaster pulled up, keeping a wary eye on me.

_This is gonna be a long night._

* * *

I got home at three or four in the morning, and released _Mystia Lorelei_ (What kind of name is that, anyway?). Five seconds later, my supernatural confidence gone, I was screaming into my pillow.

_What was that? What the fuck did I just do?_

I stressed for a few more minutes, then dragged myself out of bed. At this rate, I’d be skipping again tomorrow, but it would be best to take inventory now anyway.

I dumped my satchel on my desk and opened my ‘library’ drawer. I’d been carrying my more ‘discreet’ decks with me – better for a debut. That meant my _Mystia_ , _Sakuya_ , _Reisen_ and _Medicine_ decks. On reflection, the latter might have been more effective on Lung then _Mystia_ ’s poison cards, but I didn’t know how to ensure they’d be nonlethal on my unpowered opponents.

I got out some paper strips and the brush I’d dug out of the basement and started painting more cards. I had to steel myself for a _Mystia_ set, as all the cards seemed to be built of ‘memories’ – in this case, memories of hunting people down at night. I was slightly concerned by these tendencies, shared by so many of my sets, but I’d never gotten hungry while using them, so it seemed safe enough for now.

After restocking the cards I’d spent, I did some rearranging. The strips were bulky, and the satchel had four compartments, so for now I just took four at once. Given the obvious efficacy of _Mystia_ , I decided to switch out _Medicine_ for a stronger set.

I had to think about it for a while, but in the end there was little choice. If stealth failed me, I had no reason to worry about flashing lights, so I added my _Marisa_ deck. Regardless of its ‘Anti-Stealth’ properties, I couldn’t deny that its lasers were awesomely powerful.

I closed and locked my drawer, slid my satchel under my bed, and turned in.


	2. Chapter 2

At school the next day, I bent my investigative acumen upon the ‘kids’ of last night. I looked for Tattletale – the only one who’d spoken – first. PHO was useless, unfortunately. I couldn’t find any solid data on her. I tried the others: Regent was the shorter guy, and the taller was Grue. The latter could generate darkness, which amused me considerably. _Mystia_ could fake it with blindness, and I had a few other cards lying around that I was pretty sure could do the same. The last villain was Hellhound, who’d been much more thoroughly documented. Her power let her transform dogs into the hulking beasts I’d observed the night before.

Class was nearly over by the time I thought to look for myself. Searches for bird-themed keywords and information on new capes led me to an isolated post:

**_Subject_ ** _: Birdie_

_Owe you one. Would like to repay the favour. Meet?_

_Send a message,_

_Tt._

The period ended before I decided on a response. Mr Gladly took my next class, and his cheerful condescension left me steaming. What came next, though was worse. I frankly couldn’t believe anyone would have the guts to say to me what he did, then turn their back on me so soon after. After all this turmoil, I was hardly prepared for even the weak needling of Emma’s sycophants. And then she interjected –

Emma was _fucking_ lucky I didn’t have my decks with me. See how she looked after a _Master Spark_ or two. Never mind that it would out me to the whole damn school.

Instead, I fled. Skipped the rest of the school day, and headed home. I needed something to take my mind off her, and a bit of cape action sounded like it would hit the spot. I swung by the library and sent confirmation to Tattletale, then retrieved my satchel. No sense going in unprepared.

We had agreed to meet where we did last night, and I was wary enough to enter my _Mystia_ form before arrival. I didn’t like locking myself in like that, but I figured it was best to keep my other abilities secret. Also, just because I couldn’t shoot massive lasers like this, didn’t mean they knew that.

I kept to the alleyways after transforming and performed a sort of flying-hop to get on the roof of my target. Three of them were waiting for me – Tattletale, Regent and Grue, presumably. None of the wore their costumes, which was a bit of a shock. I kept a wary eye out for Hellhound, but I didn’t think she was around. I reckon its probably hard to hide those things she called pets.

Grue stepped forward and offered his hand to me. “I’m Brian.”

“Call me Lorelei, for now.”

I didn’t miss the way Tattletale’s eyes narrowed at that. Huh. Guess she knew a bit about literature. The others were introduced to me – one Alec, one Lisa. The names, I felt, suited them.

Brian got down to business quickly. A look at Lisa caused her to hold out a box towards me. A… plastic lunchbox. Alexandria merch.

“She was my favourite hero, when I was younger.” I smirked. “Of course, I-”

I clamped down on my sudden urge to sing my own praises. This was really getting rather out of hand. At least I wasn’t actually singing. That would be really embarrassing. Brian and Alec looked at me oddly, though Lisa sent me a knowing grin. I kind of wanted to show her up for that, too, but I focused on the box, taking it from her.

“Just open it.” Lisa rolled her eyes.

I did.

…

_Money! Aha!_

I felt unaccountably joyous gazing on my prize. My wings gave a few beats. The villains were looking really weirded out by now, but I didn’t care. I had money! Actual money! And lots of it.

Lisa forged ahead and launched into a recruitment pitch. Déjà vu much? Though she was frankly rather more inviting than Armsmaster. I wasn’t really listening, and judging by her frown, she knew it. I spun into the air, gave some shocked villains hugs, then sped off homeward.

_I have money!_

I went a good five blocks before I realised I probably shouldn’t be rocketing around like this by day. I landed in a backstreet, still wearing a silly grin on my face, then released my transformation.

From the start of the fight last night to my arrival home had taken less than ten minutes. This little outing had taken me something closer to half an hour, and I crashed even harder afterward. It took all my self-control not to curl up in a ball and cry. I’d had an opportunity! Possibly the best opportunity I’d ever have to do some espionage, and I’d blown it! As I fought to bring my racing heart under control, I ruminated on my power’s greatest drawback. This was rapidly becoming a serious problem, and I needed to do something about it.

It was inconsistent. When I’d gone on that cut-short power testing, I hadn’t really felt any different using _Marisa_. Some of the others caused even stronger changes than _Mystia_ , which only seemed to make me want to show off. _Cirno_ ’s arrogance left me feeling disgusted with myself (and I _feel dumber_ using it) but the worst…

I swallowed. I didn’t think I’d be using _Rumia_ again. That need I felt was horrible.

The really interesting thing about my power was my foci. I called them that because they seemed to be required to ‘channel’ certain attacks. Fortunately, like my cardcraft, my foci tended to require only cheap materials – paper, wood, and so on. Not all were so simple however – I could apparently craft some hideously dangerous weapons from ‘faith’, whatever that meant. And how could I possibly get the tools I’d need to make concrete boots? Yeah, I don’t know what those are supposed to do.

I paused. Something was niggling at the edge of my awareness. A new idea? I relaxed and tried to meditate. That helped, sometimes. It was…

Oh my.

I think I just figured out what faith is. And it looks to be the most absurd of my already highly-irritating powers. Faith meant faith in the religious sense. So to create those weapons, one of two things needed to happen. Either I become a paragon of piety (or a cleric) or I got myself a cult. Actually, the latter idea sounded a little appealing…

I refocused and thought harder. These… weapons, [Yin-Yang Orb]s, what could they actually do?

A whole bunch [Fantasy Orb] techniques, cool, cool.

And – [Fantasy Heaven]

…

Yes. All the yes. Okay. New priority. Try and gather followers. Even if it was only single-target, an undodgeable attack of such power would make a fine addition to my collection. Maybe I could use it on Endbringers? Though given the kind of bullshit they’d tanked in the past, it probably wouldn’t actually kill them. Whatever. It was something to think about. Preferably somewhere other than a random city alleyway, too. I left posthaste.

* * *

I didn’t go on patrol again that week. It had become clear I needed to do some more prep work. I was consistently ducking school now, which I knew would bite me, but I really couldn’t deal with the stress at the time. On Thursday, I finally got around to doing something with my haul; I headed to the Bay Central Bank to open an account. By some twisted coincidence, I arrived in the midst of a cape fight.

I blame my new _Remilia_ deck. ‘Miserable Fate’, indeed.


End file.
